IHMN (Steam) Horses rules questions?

[Genghis]

What with all this exciting conversation about Copper Mine’s impending steam horse Kickstarter I’ve been trying to get my head around how they work (steam horses that is, not Kickstarters). 

Treating steam horses as walkers seems to have several disadvantages: in close terrain (anything requiring >3 x 45 degree turns per move phase) they are slower than horses, they are outright slower than horses that run, & the use of the walker hit table seems inappropriate compared to regular horses where you can target the rider or horse at your discretion (somehow the rider is protected by the steam horse’s armour 9 – although how does this work if the rider has armour >9?). 

Has anyone used steam horses & if so, do they justify the 21 pts?  Is there perhaps scope for treating them a bit more like regular horses?

Whilst on (or at least, very near) the subject, does shooting at a mounted figure count as shooting at a group (ie MGs, etc can hit both horse & rider)?  Also, do horses get to attack in melee along with their rider (HVF gives them a FV, etc)?

[Richard]

sorry I can't help but I am surprised no one else has.

[Genghis]

I'm sure people will give more thought to this when they get their grubby little mitts on those hopefully rather splendid steam horses. 

The way I see it is that a steam horse must surely have some sort of basic logic engine/AI (probably via an ingenious system of cogs or suchlike) that gives it a measure of autonomy, rather than being reliant upon being driven/piloted like a regular mech walker.  (Because movement isn't controlled by the steersman's legs 'walking' normally-ish, to fully control the steam horse by other means would be quite capacity sapping.)

With the rules as they are, I don't feel steam horses offer an advantage over regular horses, let alone being worth 12 pts more than a cavalry horse.  When I get some, I will probably reimagine them as automatons (with the approximate intelligence of a horse) rather than walkers totally reliant upon their steersman.  Rules-wise I'd treat them as a horse variant.

How's this as a starter for 10?:

Move/Run 12"/6", Pluck 5+, FV +1, Armour 10, Weapon Bonus +1, Pluck Penalty 0, can't swim & isn't terrified of camels/elephants, cost 12 points

(Pluck & Armour increase Vs cavalry horse = +4 pts, loss of swimming = -2 pts, not terrified worth ~+1 pt for a total of +3 pts over the 9 pts cavalry horse.)

This makes them a little bit tougher than, but otherwise still as useful as a cavalry horse; which would make them useful both in the game & in real life the IHMN 'verse.

[Craig]

Has anyone used steam horses & if so, do they justify the 21 pts?  Is there perhaps scope for treating them a bit more like regular horses?

Advantages of a Steam Horse:
1. They are fearless, unlike horses which are terrified by everything except other horses.
2. They are Armour 9.
3. If they are hit they do not simply die, you must roll on the mechanised walker table. Note that the rider is only hit on a 1-3 on a d10 as he is the 'Steersman'. A roll of 6-7 (weapon damaged) doesn't even slow it down and 8 (armour damaged) just makes it a little easier to hit next time.
4. A base move of 15" which, if you run in a straight line at 21", makes it the fastest thing on any battlefield.

I think that point 3 is enough to make it worth 21pts never mind the rest 

[Genghis]

I hadn't realised that Walkers could run.  With the advantages you point out I can see how steam horses could be useful.  

I presume that as Walkers, even though the rider is just as exposed as if on a real horse, you can't choose to target the rider?  (This seems kinda weird, but I suppose I could rationalise it to myself as steam horses coming with the equivalent of trick rider for the steersman - which accounts for a chunk of the points increase as well.)

[Dewbakuk]

Same justification as to why you can't just snipe the driver of this:



It's a game mechanic, not real life.

[Genghis]

Fair one, I'd not really considered that walker, I was thinking solely of the military models with protection for the steersman.   I suppose that's wrapped up in the overall  armour level of the walker.

On balance, I can now see the error of my ways so thank-you for pointing me in the right direction; however, my questions about actual horses still stand:

Whilst on (or at least, very near) the subject, does shooting at a mounted figure count as shooting at a group (ie MGs, etc can hit both horse & rider)?  Also, do horses get to attack in melee along with their rider (HVF gives them a FV, etc)?

[Dewbakuk]

It's a fair question, unfortunately my books are with someone else right now, so I can't help sorry.